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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25833718">My Older Brother</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeffrevinAO3/pseuds/JeffrevinAO3'>JeffrevinAO3</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:36:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>911</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25833718</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeffrevinAO3/pseuds/JeffrevinAO3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A regular night in the Temple, the calm before the storm.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>My Older Brother</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s strange, looking back on where things used to be.<br/>Before, you paced these halls with a quiet sense of dignity. Now, your eyes can’t help but dart to waists and cloaks. You’re waiting for the next ambush in a place where it’ll never come.<br/>The war’s made us all nervous and jumpy, nobody can question that. We’ve been turned from peacekeepers into soldiers and warriors, just as those who manufactured this galactic conflict intended. But, aside from all the chaos, there has to be a reason why we’re fighting, clones and all, against the Separatists. The problem is, nobody can quite figure out why.</p><p>Where the days used to be filled with lightsaber form practice lessons and mundane Archive study hall sessions, now, mission related assignments are crammed in every possible space; briefings, reports, even dedicated time to review administrative work.<br/>Everybody hates administrative work.<br/>The days remain the same, though. Wake up at this time, be down in the refectory by this time, be ready for a lesson or briefing on an ongoing campaign at this time, repeat until lunch and afterwards until dinner.</p><p>A glimmering orange light shines through the windows of the corridor, the evening meal crowd letting out and making their way back towards their dormitories, or to evening duties and nightly briefings.<br/>Anakin dismisses me with a passive wave as I head in the opposite direction with a group of Younglings and younger Padawans, and I give a parting wave back. He’s due for the next brief.<br/>The Temple turbolifts are almost always packed, and so the older of us have to keep the impatient young ones in check. Some of them play around, chasing after each other and waving their hands together as if fighting with lightsabers.<br/>I shake my head, fondly remembering those days.</p><p>The lift arrives, and I squeeze in among the crowd. There’s a few quips as those boarding call out their floors before the door swishes shut and the lift accelerates downward.<br/>I’m among the first out the door as we arrive on the floor housing the Padawan dormitories, and I bid farewell to the remaining Jedi and those heading out across the floor.<br/>In only a matter of minutes, the vivid orange has been replaced by blue tinted darkness, and the lights slowly come on, shining softly in the moonlight. I’m the only one in this wing of the floor.<br/>My sight remains gazing out of the windows of the Temple, watching as far-off buildings, in all shapes and sizes scraping against the dark sky, shine in combinations of yellow and green and red. The lights of civilian speeders and ships dot the skyline.</p><p>Others around the Temple would likely be doing the same, admiring their surroundings before drifting off to sleep, or staying up late and ending up dozing off while studying in the Archives library. Of course, the last time I did that, I managed to stop an assassin from killing Padmé, so perhaps that’s more useful than one might think.<br/>There’s always been something serene about staying up late at night or early in the morning, before the world effectively awakens. When the sounds of the night aren’t drowned out by the bustling noise of the day.<br/>Some choose to spend their time in the gardens, but lately, it’s been getting more and more difficult, with a war on and all. For many, wandering the halls silently before bed will do, but there’s always still a few insistent people who stick to routine.</p><p>Routine. As if any of this was ever routine to begin with<br/>What sense of normalcy can one get in the middle of a war?<br/>Since the beginning, none of us have been Jedi. Instead, we’ve been forced to become warriors. We excuse ourselves by saying we’re here to keep the peace, but were that true, we would be mediating between the Republic and the Separatists, not fighting alongside clones.<br/>Just about the only person this whole war hasn’t affected has been the Temple staff, Jedi and civilian, isolated completely from the brutal campaigns and the goings-on of warfare.<br/>Sucks to be us.</p><p>I mash the panel to my dorm, the door sliding open and closing behind me. The room is small yet simple; a bed, a window, and two cushions for the two sabers on my belt.<br/>And the room does feel small, comparatively to everything else that’s happened. Wars on hostile worlds, giant ships and quick-paced fighter action, rank upon rank of Republic and Separatist forces fighting head to head on the ground.<br/>In moments like these, time seems to both stand still and move far too quickly.</p><p>I set my sabers on their respective cushions, peering through the slats in the window, the Coruscanti light shining back at me. Great.<br/>I grab my cloak, unbundling and draping it across one of the higher slats, blocking out the harsh glare. I take a step back, smirking at the ingenuitive move I’ve pulled innumerable times before. And who said Jedi couldn’t be afforded luxuries?<br/>In the morning, it’ll be the same bustle again, at least until I’m called in for the inevitable briefing. We’re going to this planet to defeat the Separatists, they’re held up in this location, take extra care to avoid affecting these civilians here, the same spiel as always. A new routine.</p><p>I kneel down into a meditative position, committing myself to one last session before I drop asleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hio!<br/>This was written for today, the twelfth anniversary of the release of the Clone Wars movie. For a change, I'll be trying some new things; writing in the first person, exploring creating an actual original story, going deeper into themes, and developing a character.<br/>Here's to the first of many chapters. Cheers!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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